


Dreaming of You

by Hooked_Wings



Series: The Pre-Kingdom Hearts 4 Adventures [2]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Hugs, Kissing, M/M, Paopu Fruit (Kingdom Hearts), Sora x Riku, Soriku - Freeform, Unconsciousness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:33:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25151689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hooked_Wings/pseuds/Hooked_Wings
Summary: While battling a new form of heartless, Sora is attacked and put into a deep sleep.  Riku's words from the real world trickle into his dreams and unusual events seem to take place.
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: The Pre-Kingdom Hearts 4 Adventures [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1822003
Comments: 1
Kudos: 23





	1. The Dreamweaver Heartless

**Author's Note:**

> This story is Part 2 of a continuation of the work titled "Dizzy for You" and takes part after the events of the other story's epilogue. It is not necessary to read the other work, just know that Sora + Riku's relationship has already been established as being in love at this point.
> 
> This story contains SPOILERS:  
> -Kingdom Hearts III ending spoilers  
> -Re:Mind DLC Spoilers  
> -Re:Mind Secret trailer spoilers

“Watch out for these types!” Yozora cautioned the others.

Large twitching heartless swinging crescent moon shaped things from chains twitched and jittered before them. When Sora looked more closely, the crescent moons were actually black halves of broken hearts, and along the break they were oozing some sort of foul smelling black smoke.

“The smoke will put you to sleep! Attack quickly and dodge back, or use magic!” Yozora yelled to the others as his crossbow folded out and he easily dispatched two of the swarm of 12.

“Got it!” Sora replied back, swapping to his Star Seeker keyblade and form changing into his blue wisdom clothes. He sent a spray of ice crystals to the nearest one, freezing it in place. Swiftly gliding forward on his current of magic, he jumped and came down with his keyblade, smashing it into a brilliant spray of shimmering ice.

Riku lept and kicked off of the side of one of the heartless that had been nearing him. He bounded off of it into a turning aerial somersault, using the momentum to propel him swiftly into another heartless which died instantly at the immense impact of his keyblade disappearing into its head all the way up to the hilt. It dispersed into wisps of darkness and the heart from inside floated up before disappearing in a glimmer of light.

Another heartless went for Riku, its chain lashing out dragging the toxic smoke with it in his direction, but just as Riku turned to deflect it the broken heart on the chain was shot away by one of Yozora’s projectiles. Riku took advantage of the heartless’ sudden opening and dispatched another of their ranks.

“Thunder!” Sora raised his keyblade to the sky and bolts of green lightning zapped the three heartless which had been closing around him in a circle. He zapped them again and two of the three disappeared into wisps of curling darkness. Sora turned easily on the wave of sparkling blue magic that his shoes were hovering on, and did a sideways flip as the heartless charged him. “Ha!” Sora turned again, catching the heartless from behind as it passed him. He held his keyblade out, pointing the end of it at the heartless like a large rifle. “FIRE!” But nothing happened.

“Huh!?” Sora had over indulged on the magic, and he stumbled forward catching his balance as his shoes dropped to the pavement and his clothes returned to black. Just as he righted himself and lifted his keyblade into a blocking position, the half heart on a chain billowing smoke whipped around and clattered against his keyblade. The block was successful, but the chain wrapped around the keyblade, forcing the smoking half heart to get stuck next to Sora’s face. 

“Sora! Don’t breathe in!” came Yozora’s voice from afar. But Sora already had. At the moment the chain wrapped around his keyblade he had taken in a sudden gasp of surprise. The foul smoke filled his lungs and he coughed and sputtered. The smoke tasted like a sickly sweet but also somehow rottenl, like fruit that had gotten too ripe and was starting to ferment. Sora blinked a few times. Was he still holding his keyblade? He couldn’t feel his hands.

Sora looked down confusedly. His hands were still there. At the ends of his arms, right where he had left them. He looked at his hands, fingers spread wide as the keyblade disappeared in a burst of sparkles, despawning. He thought he heard Riku’s voice calling him from somewhere far away. _Sora! Sora!_ Hm? What is it, Riku? Sora thought mildly. He felt incredibly relaxed. It was a comforting, soothing feeling. Like the happy moment just before you feel your body fall asleep.


	2. Time Together

“Sora, are you okay?!” Riku shook his shoulder, snapping him out of it. 

“Oh, I’m okay, Riku.” Sora said, shaking his head. 

“You dazed out for a minute there.” Riku said with concern in his voice.

Yozora walked up to them, also looking somewhat concerned at Sora. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Of course!” Sora smiled up at the two taller boys and folded his hands behind his head. “I don’t think I breathed in much of that stuff.”

“Well, that’s a relief.” Yozora replied.

“Yeah. Wouldn’t want to have to carry your ass all the way back.” Riku smiled teasingly.

“Riku! I’m not that bad!” Sora protested, playing along.

“Sure, you only failed your mark of mastery exam. Twice.” Riku said chuckling.

“Hey! I didn’t fail the second time! I just got zapped over to this world!” The two boys pushed at each other playfully.

“Are you done?” Yozora asked, folding his crossbow and sword weapons away. The other two straightened back up. “We should rest up before our next location.”

“I’m not _that_ tired!” Sora puffed out his chest like the way Hercules used to after saving the day, but then his stomach rumbled, ruining the moment.

“I think your stomach disagrees.” Riku said, poking him in the abs.

“That tickles!” Sora doubled over, laughing as Riku grabbed his sides and proceeded to tickle him more.

“OKAY! Can we just…..ugh.” Yozora gave up trying to get them to quit messing around and started walking off. 

“Riku!” Sora gasped between breaths of laughter, “Stop!” Riku finally let up and Sora regained his breath. He grinned up at Riku and fell into pace beside his friend several yards behind Yozora. 

“It’s nice to spend all this time with you.” Sora said after a little while. 

“Hm. Missed me that much huh?” Riku smiled down at him.

“Of course.” Sora thought back to the time Riku had found him with Donald and Goofy in Traverse Town.

FLASHBACK TIME (the following flashback quotes are taken directly from Kingdom Hearts 1)

“Riku!” Sora went to his friend and pulled on his face.

“Hey, hey! Cut it out.” Riku protested, smiling. He was carrying a new weapon in his right hand that Sora had never seen before. It looked like a sword made out of a dark wing.

“I’m not dreaming this time, right?” Sora asked, looking his friend up and down.

“I hope not.” Riku replied, smoothing back his silver hair with his left hand. “Took forever to find you.”

“Riku!” Sora closed his eyes smiling, overjoyed and letting the feeling of relief wash over him. 

(fast forward a couple minutes)

Riku glanced at Donald and Goofy in an odd way. His eyes were narrowed, it was so different from how he looked at Sora. Was he suspicious? Jealous? “Who are they?”

“Ahem, my name is---” Donald began, but Sora was too excited to tell Riku about all their adventures.

“We visited so many places and worlds, looking for you!”

“Really? Well whaddya know. I never would’ve guessed.” replied Riku.

“Oh, and guess what?” said Goofy, coming up behind Sora and fondly putting his big white-gloved hands on Sora’s little shoulders. “Sora’s the keyblade master.”

“Who would’ve thought it?” Donald said.

“What’s that mean!?” Sora turned to Donald accusingly. Donald had pestered him the entire gummy ship ride over there, and Sora had had the hardest time keeping a happy smile on his face to power the ship.

“So this is called a keyblade?” Riku asked, examining it.

“Hey!” When had Riku gotten a hold of that? 

“Catch!” Riku tossed it back to him.

“Woah!” Sora caught it, afraid to drop it on the ground. He still wasn’t entirely sure what special magic stuff it all did yet. “Okay, so you’re coming with us, right? We’ve got this awesome rocket. Wait till you see it!”

“No, he can’t come!” Donald stamped his duck foot.

“What?”

“Forget it!”

“Oh come on! He’s my friend!” 

“I don’t care!” Donald said resolutely.

“Huh?” Goofy said, looking up. “He’s gone!”

Sora looked up, seeing nothing but an empty spot where Riku had stood a moment before. His heart sank. Little did he know, but it would be a long while before he saw Riku again.

END OF FLASHBACK

Sora looked up at Riku. His friend had grown so tall, grown his hair all the way out and had it cut short again, and his arms had gotten super muscular. He was still Riku, but compared to his earlier memories it showed how much time had passed. And during all that time, it felt like Sora had gotten to spend very little of it at his side.

“You know, when I was travelling around to all those worlds, I kept thinking to myself, ‘I wish Riku was here to see this with me.’ “ Sora admitted.

“Well, we have lots of time now. Why don’t you tell me about it?” Riku smiled at him.

“Huh?” Sora asked. He was a little surprised. Riku had never explicitly asked about his adventures with Donald and Goofy before. But maybe that was because they were always so busy, caught up in the adventures around them.

“Come on, I’m not going anywhere.” Riku smiled reassuringly.

Sora grinned. Where to begin?

(a half hour later)

“But everyone in that world looked like animals! So when Donald cast his spell to protect the world order I turned into a lion!”

“Woah, really? Those big cats with the big manes?” Riku’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Well, not exactly big.” Sora replied sheepishly, scratching the back of his spiky hair. “I was more of a little lion cub.”

“Aww, I bet you were so cute! I would’ve liked to have seen you like that!” Riku grinned.

“Ha! Really?” Sora asked, but then his attention was drawn away to about 100 meters in the distance. “Woah….”

They stared. In between the tall cluster of urban buildings a small square patch of grass was the first green grass Sora had seen here in a long time. It was a small urban city park, tucked away between the buildings. If Yozora hadn’t led them down this particular route they probably never would have found it. There was a small set of two swings and a park bench. Next to those was a well-worn slide that looked like it had been refurbished recently with newer paint trying to hide the age of the thing, and a small cluster of trees. But the trees looked out of place. They were oddly familiar. 

“Paopu trees!?” Sora stopped and gawked. Sure enough, they were indeed Paopu trees, large yellow star shaped fruit were nestled between the branches at the top, the skin of the fruit shining waxy against the illuminating light of the tall street lamp in the center of the park. 


	3. The Paopu Tree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sora has happy fantasies in his slumber, meanwhile Riku's words from the real world trickle into his dreams.

“Sora! Sora, wake up!” Riku shook his friend, but he didn’t respond. His eyes remained closed and his head hung back limply against Riku’s arms. 

“It’s no use. He’ll just have to sleep it off.” Yozora walked up to where Riku was knelt on the ground, holding his friend Sora in his arms. 

Just as they had been finishing off the last of the heartless, Riku had spotted Sora being engulfed in a cloud of toxic smoke. Riku had raced to Sora’s side and dispatched the heartless, only to turn around and see Sora wobble as his keyblade despawned. 

“Sora? Sora!” Riku shouted as he rushed to his friend’s side, but Sora’s eyes were beginning to glaze over and looked distant. He wasn’t sure if Sora could even hear him anymore. Riku reached out just in time when he saw Sora lose consciousness, and Sora fell limp into his arms.

Riku looked up at Yozora, panic in his eyes. “Will he be okay?!” 

“Calm down. He’ll be fine.” Yozora stared at Riku. _Those two must care about each other quite a lot,_ Yozora thought to himself. The wild look in Riku’s eyes seemed all too familiar to Yozora. It was a look he’d seen in the mirror once, when he thought his friends were in mortal danger.

“What do I need to do?” Riku looked up at Yozora pleadingly, panic still in his voice.

“Just wait. There’s no antidote, not that I know of anyway. As far as I know it’s not really harmful to him. It just puts him into a deep sleep. But the sleep is strong and acts quickly. That’s why so many fall victim to those types of heartless.”

“How long will he be asleep?”

“A day, two at best. We should get him somewhere safe.” Yozora reached out to help Riku.

“No, I have him.” Riku’s arms tightened protectively around Sora and he stood from the squatting position he’d been in, straining his leg muscles under the added weight. Despite that he didn’t complain. “Let’s go.”

\-----------------------

“This is awesome!” Sora said running forward. He lept in the air, grabbing the chains of the swings as he did so and plopping his bottom onto the seat which lurched forward with his added momentum. 

“Well, if you two are going to play, I’m gonna check in.” Yozora said. He tossed a plastic card to Riku who had just walked up beside Sora’s swing. “This one is for your room.”

“You’re not staying with us?” Sora asked, wondering how much these hotel rooms actually cost.

“No. You two are two annoying.” But Yozora said it with a smile. Maybe they were starting to break through his tough outer shell after all. “See you in the morning.” With that he waved and walked to the large glass double doors to the nearest building. Above the door was a glowing sign that said “Lobby”. Had that been there before? _Oh well_ , Sora thought to himself. _I must’ve missed it because I was excited about the Paopu trees._

Just then Riku pushed Sora’s swing from behind, which until now had only just been swaying gently with him on it.

“Hey!” Sora chuckled.

“Get ready for it!” Riku said, as he pushed he let out a burst of Aero magic and Sora’s shoes reached so high in the air he thought he was level with the tops of the Paopu fruit trees. 

Sora laughed, “Hey, Riku! Do that again!”

“You got it!” Riku sent another burst of air magic along with his next push, but this time when Sora reached the peak of the swing he let go of the chains, soaring into the air.

Sora’s heart fluttered. He felt so free. Grinning, he did a forward flip in the air and landed perfectly on the top of the nearest Paopu fruit tree. “Tada!”

“I gotta admit, that was pretty cool.” Riku called from below.

Sora chuckled and then blushed a little, thinking about what he wanted to ask Riku next. His hand wrapped around a soft ripe yellow Paopu fruit and tugged it free.

\-------------------------

Yozora held open the hotel room door for Riku, who had his arms full with Sora. Sora was drooling quite a lot from the side of his half open mouth onto Riku’s arm, but Riku barely seemed to notice. His face was set in worry and hard determination.

“Do you need anything before I go?” Yozora asked.

Riku looked down at sleeping Sora. His face looked so peaceful, happy even. As if he didn’t have a care in the world. It was just like Sora to be happy during something like this. “I guess some food maybe? In case he wakes up?”

“Sure thing.” Yozora left down the hallway, letting the hotel room door swing shut behind him.

“Sora… Sora!” Riku wiggled his friend a little in his arms, hoping against all his fears that maybe Yozora was wrong, that maybe Sora hadn’t inhaled much. That maybe Sora would wake any moment and open those big blue eyes and look up wonderingly at him, with one of those goofy smiles growing across his face.

But Sora remained asleep.

\-------------------

“Sora….Sora!” Riku called up to him from below.

“Huh?” Sora looked down from the top of the Paopu tree.

“Throw it here. You’ll damage it trying to climb down with it in your hand.”

“Oh, right! Good idea!” Sora gently tossed the paopu fruit to Riku, where it landed in his open hands.

Sora finished climbing down a minute later, and his face felt annoyingly hot again. How much was he blushing?

“Here.” Riku handed the paopu fruit back to him, smiling. 

Sora brushed off the paopu fruit in his hands making sure it was clean. Or maybe, he was hesitating and wanted somewhere to stare other than Riku while he was blushing. “Riku…” He finally had to look back up then, because Riku was being too quiet.

Riku stood there quietly, smiling comfortingly at him. “Yes, Sora?” Sora thought he saw the corner of Riku’s mouth go up a bit more on one side. Riku knew what he wanted to ask, but wanted him to say it.

“Do you….uh…” Sora looked back down at his shoes, feeling a little dizzy as his heart raced. 

“Come here, Sora.” Riku grabbed Sora’s free hand and led him over to the park bench, where they sat side by side. “You silly thing. You looked like you were going to fall over right there.”

\----------------

“You silly thing.” Riku said to his sleeping friend, remembering how quickly Sora had started to pass out before. “You looked like you were going to fall over right there.” Riku carried him over to the nearest bed and gently deposited Sora on the side near the night stand in the middle. He knew Sora would probably want to grab the remote and search for cartoons on TV when he woke up. Riku flexed his arms and stretched. They were sore from carrying Sora for two miles.

“Oh, Sora.” Riku sighed, shaking his head and smiling faintly as he watched Sora. Sora shifted his head a little and smiled in his sleep. “What am I going to do with you?”

\-----------------

“Was not!” protested Sora, looking up at Riku where he was sitting next to him. Then he looked down at the paopu in his lap. How was he going to say this? “Riku…. I did have a lot of fun on my adventures with Donald and Goofy. But, I also felt a little sad too.”

Riku waited patiently, letting his friend find the words and courage to finish.

“I missed you, Riku. There were so many worlds where we were apart. So, wherever our adventures take us now, I want our destinies to be together.” Sora said, and he was very very certain he was blushing this time, his face felt so warm. Sora held up the paopu fruit a little, hoping Riku understood.

“Oh, Sora.” Riku sighed as he smiled at Sora happily. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?” Sora began to protest. He fell silent however when Riku reached out and took the paopu fruit. Riku turned it over in his hands examining it. 

“I’ve never had one before.” Riku admitted.

“Me either.” Sora said. 

“I hear they don’t taste the best. That people mostly like to grow them because they’re pretty, and they grow on pretty trees. That and, for the legend about destinies.”

“Oh...” Sora said quietly. He wanted to add, and the birds like to eat them too! But thought it might ruin the moment. “Y’know, I always kind of imagined they’d taste like bananas.”

Riku laughed. “Bananas!? Why bananas?”

“Well, ‘cause they’re yellow.” Sora smiled.

Riku laughed again. “Only one way to find out.” Sora stared wide eyed as Riku bravely took a bite. It wasn’t as soft as Sora had hoped it would be, so instead of taking a bite out of soft fleshy fruit like a nectarine, Riku snapped off one of the five star points of the fruit. Half of it stuck out of his mouth. Riku turned and looked at Sora, a gleam in his eyes. A gentle breeze blew between the buildings, rustling Sora’s hair and making Riku’s long silver bangs scatter around his eyelashes.

Riku put a hand on Sora’s shoulder and the other on Sora’s cheek, leaning closer….

\---------------

Riku reached out and rustled Sora’s hair gently. Riku knew what Yozora had said, but still couldn’t help but worry. He wanted-- he needed-- Sora to be okay.

Sitting on the edge of the bed next to Sora, he brushed his hand on Sora’s cheek gently and rested his other on Sora’s shoulder, and thinking about the princess of heart who had awoken from a sleeping spell, he leaned forward, giving Sora a gentle kiss on the lips.

\----------------

Sora leaned towards Riku too, and bit the other end of the piece of paopu fruit, their lips meeting gently in the middle. 

Sora drew back, realizing the taste of the fruit in his mouth. “Oh!” he said with his mouth full. “Bannuhs!”

Riku chewed and swallowed while smiling amusedly at him. “What?”

Sora swallowed. “Bananas! It really does taste like bananas! Just a little crunchier!” 

Riku laughed. It was a warm, happy, beautiful sound. When he was done laughing, he turned and looked at Sora again with his vivid aquamarine eyes. Sora felt himself smiling back. 

“I love you.” Riku leaned forward again but this time wrapped in a warm comforting hug. 

Sora wrapped his arms around Riku too, letting out a happy sigh. “I love you too, Riku.”

\----------------

Sora smiled blissfully in his sleep. Riku couldn’t help but smile a little too, seeing his friend so peaceful like that.

“I love you,” Riku said softly. He pulled up the comforter around Sora and tucked Sora in around his shoulders and sides so it would be like he was wrapped in a warm cocoon or a hug. 

“...hh…” Sora’s mouth moved a little. Riku leaned in a little closer trying to listen.

“...Ri...ku…” Sora breathed. It was so soft Riku might not have heard it if he wasn’t that close.

Riku smiled. Was Sora dreaming of him? Riku reached over and turned out the night stand light, getting up and stretching some more. Maybe with how well Sora was resting, he’d be awake by morning.


	4. Come Back to Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riku tries desperately to wake Sora from his deep sleep.

“Panicking isn’t going to solve anything.” Yozora frowned at Riku, who had been bombarding him with frantic questions for the last five minutes.

“He hasn’t eaten or drank anything in almost two days!” Riku raked his fingers through his silver hair, visibly stressed. 

Yozora sighed and crossed his arms. “Well I don’t know what to tell you. He’ll wake up on his own eventually. I think.”

“ _You think_!?!” Riku’s voice raised to a sharp pitch. “If he doesn’t at least drink some water soon, he could die!”

“Well force him to drink something then! But yelling at me isn’t going to help.” Yozora stomped to the door and left the room, letting it slam shut behind him.

Riku grabbed the water bottle next to the take out food Yozora had left on the little hotel room table and brought it to Sora. He sat on the bed and put an arm behind Sora, lifting him up so he was leant against Riku’s chest and not laying completely flat. Riku didn’t want to cause him to choke. With his other hand he gently tipped the water bottle against Sora’s lips, but Sora’s mouth was closed and the water just dribbled down his chin, soaking into Sora’s shirt.

\-----------------

Sora laughed as he ran across the beach with Riku. Just as he was about to catch up to his friend, Riku turned and pointed out towards the ocean.

“Huh?” Sora turned just in time to see a big wave come cascading toward the beach. It crashed against his legs and the splashing sea spray hit him in the face. Sora wiped the water from his lips and grinned at Riku.

It was a bright, beautiful day at Destiny Islands. The last couple days had been happy as a dream. First there was that time where their magic had gone wonky, and he had morphed into a lion cub again much to Riku’s surprise, and then they had found a magic portal back here. Everything was perfect. 

Riku laughed and ran knee deep through the water. The water in his silver hair made it shimmer in the sunlight.

\---------------------

“You have to drink something.” Riku nudged Sora’s mouth open a little. Then he grabbed the water bottle again, taking a swig of water into his mouth, but didn’t swallow. Riku adjusted Sora gently in his arms and pressed their lips together, letting the water trickle from his mouth into Sora’s. 

\--------------------

Sora had raced waist deep into the water trying to chase and splash Riku, who kept dodging out of the way. Another wave came and crashed around them, making them soaking wet. But Sora had turned to look at the wave just at the last moment, and he got a mouth full of seawater.

Sora sputtered and glared at Riku, who was pointing and laughing at him. Sora shook the saltwater from his hair and summoned his keyblade, getting an idea. 

“Water!” he yelled, pointing his keyblade towards Riku. The water rose up around Riku, engulfing him in a huge splash that left him completely soaked. Sora burst out laughing.

\------------------

“Sora. Sora!” Riku shook his friend. “You have to wake up! Sora, you’re dreaming!”

\---------------

Sora waded through the water back to the shore, but when he turned and looked to the side Riku was racing towards him, splashing through the water at full speed. “Sora, Sora!”

“Huh? What is it, Riku?” Sora asked, still smiling from their game.

Riku caught up with Sora and grabbed his shoulders, shaking him. “You have to wake up! Sora, you’re dreaming!”

“Huh!? What do you mean?” Sora looked up at his friend with a puzzled expression. 

Riku’s pretty aquamarine eyes searched his face and his eyebrows knitted together. “Sora, please!”

\---------------

“......hh…..?” Sora made a noise as he breathed out.

“Sora, please!” Riku’s voice was filled with desperation. “Can you hear me, Sora?” Riku set down the water bottle on the night stand and placed his free hand on Sora’s cheek, nudging his face back and forth.

Then he remembered before, how Sora had said his name in his sleep right after he’d kissed him. 

\-------------

“Sora, please! Can you hear me, Sora?” Riku’s voice was worried, pleading. 

“Of course, silly! I’m right here.” Sora poked Riku’s cheek playfully. “What’s gotten into you?”

Instead of answering, Riku leaned forward and kissed him. The kiss was quite nice, tender and gentle. They wrapped their arms around one another. Riku felt warm, and strangely dry considering he had been soaked just a moment ago.

After their lips parted again Riku kept holding Sora close, whispering. His voice suddenly sounded closer than ever though, and the waves of the sea seemed like a distant sound.

“Sora. I’m here with you. You have to wake up.”

“I know you’re here, silly. But we _are_ awake. See?” Sora poked Riku’s cheek again.

“Sora, can’t you feel this?” Riku asked as he released their hug and grabbed up one of Sora’s hands. He squeezed his hand tightly. “It’s me. I’m here. Please wake up!”

Sora looked at his friend, confused and starting to get concerned. The smile vanished off his face as he realized something might actually be wrong. “Riku…?”

\---------------

“Please wake up!” Riku kept squeezing Sora’s hand.

Sora’s parched lips started to move a tiny bit. “Ri….ku…” His breathing was still slow and steady, that of a deep sleeper.

“Yes! That’s it. Focus on me. You’re asleep, Sora. You’re dreaming. You have to wake up now.” Riku gently shook Sora in his arms. Sora’s head wobbled side to side a little. “Come back to me.”

\----------------

Riku shook Sora by the shoulders, still sounding pleading. “You have to wake up now.” His aquamarine eyes held fear in them. 

“I’m asleep? But how?” Sora turned his head and looked at the waves lapping up on shore. They were beautiful, almost too perfect. The ocean was bluer and clearer than ever. But the sound of the waves, shouldn’t it be loud now, drowning out Riku’s words? Instead the sound of it seemed to be getting softer, and Riku’s voice clearer.

“Come back to me.” Riku said.

Sora turned and looked at his friend again, getting worried. “Riku! What do I do!? How can I wake up?” Sora grabbed two fistfulls of the front of Riku’s shirt, clinging onto him. He was suddenly scared that if Riku disappeared from his dream, he might never find a way out.

\----------------

“.......how……” Sora breathed. It was barely even a whisper, but Riku was holding Sora so close, and the room was so quiet that he heard it.

Riku wished he knew. He wished he could just use the Power of Waking again, to travel to Sora’s heart and wake him up. But Sora’s heart wasn’t asleep, his body was. And Riku had no remedy for that.

“Just focus on me. Focus on my voice.” Riku urged. He squeezed Sora’s hand again. “Can you feel this?”

\-------------

Riku was squeezing his hand so hard, Sora thought he might get bruises. “Yeah. I can feel that!” Sora said. Was Riku really squeezing his hand in real life, or was he dreaming that too? But the pain of how hard Riku was squeezing felt so real. You couldn’t feel pain in sleep, right? “Riku! Do something else! Can you hit me? Throw water on me? Try something!”

“I don’t want to lose you. I can’t lose you. Not again.” Riku’s voice broke, and it sounded like he was crying. Sora felt droplets of water on his cheeks. He looked up and saw the sky start to cloud over quickly with big dark indigo rainclouds. It started to rain, little droplets of water hitting his face. 

\----------------------

Riku drew in a ragged sob of breath, his tears running down his cheeks and dripping onto Sora’s face. He couldn’t lose Sora. Just the thought of a world-- any world-- without him tore at his heart.

“Please wake up!” Riku cried. He pulled Sora closer in his arms and kissed Sora roughly, pressing hard against his lips and praying it would wake him.

“Nnh…”

Riku opened his eyes and stared at Sora. “Sora?” Hadn’t he made a noise just now?

Sora’s eyelids opened ever so slowly, and gradually his pupils came into focus and moved to look back at Riku.

“Ri...ku---” Sora whispered weakly with a parched dry throat. 

“Sora!’ Riku wrapped his friend in a tight hug, rubbing more of his tears onto Sora’s cheek. Then he grabbed the water bottle off the night stand and angled it up to Sora’s mouth, letting Sora take a long drink. When Sora was quenched, he set the almost empty bottle back down and continued to cradle Sora in his arms.

“You came back to me.” Riku smiled, tears in the corners of his eyes.

Sora moved his arm, trying to draw his hand up to touch his heart. It took a few moments since his arm felt weak and heavy as lead. Sora smiled at Riku, remembering the fun they’d had in his dreams together, “I never left your side.”

Riku sniffled happily and wiped the tears from his face.

Then Sora remembered something. A quizzical expression came over his face. “Riku, does paopu fruit really taste like bananas?”


End file.
